This invention relates generally to vehicle transmission gearshift levers and more particularly to an improved gearshift lever handgrip knob attaching arrangement.
An example of one form of prior art gearshift knob is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,461 issued Feb. 12, 1991 to Sennett et al. comprises a cap, a gripping section having an axial bore through it and gear teeth about one end of the bore, and an annular anti-rotation member having an axial bore therethrough and gear teeth about each end of the bore. When assembled, a stem of the cap passes through the axial bores of the gripping section and of the anti-rotation member. The gear teeth of the gripping section mesh with the gear teeth of the anti-rotation member and prevent the member from rotating with respect to the gripping section. A base has an axial bore through it and gear teeth about one end of the bore. The bore has inwardly projecting ribs between which, when the knob is assembled, a spline of the stem of the cap fits at substantially all rotational portions of the spline relative to the base. The gear teeth of the anti-rotation member mesh with the gear teeth of the base and prevent the anti-rotation member from rotating with respect to the base.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,535 issued Feb. 12, 1991 to Kobayashi et al. entitled Shift lever Unit For Automotive Automatic Transmission discloses an arrangement for mounting a control knob on top of a shift lever. The knob has a bore formed therethrough, which bore includes a smaller diameter elongate lower part, a middle diameter intermediate part, and a larger diameter upper part wherein a metal core tightly received in the lower part. The metal core has a longitudinally extending bore which includes a smaller diameter upper part and a larger diameter lower part. The shift lever has a hollow bolt at its upper end while a nut is screwed about the bolt to tightly connect the knob to the shift lever.